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Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it is concerned and disappointed over an incident where two Indonesian marines posed as the two Indonesian perpetrators of the MacDonald House bombing that killed three innocent civilians and injured another 33 in Singapore in March 1965. SINGAPORE: Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it is concerned and disappointed over an incident where two Indonesian marines posed as the two Indonesian perpetrators of the MacDonald House bombing that killed three innocent civilians and injured another 33 in Singapore in March 1965. The incident happened at the Jakarta International Defence Dialogue exhibition on March 19. Singapore had been invited as a guest to the exhibition. On learning of the incident, the Singapore Armed Forces delegation at the exhibition withdrew from the event and returned to Singapore. Singapore officials at the Embassy in Jakarta also spoke with representatives from the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and the Indonesian military to express disappointment over the incident. MFA added that it is puzzled by comments from Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. According to Indonesian media, Mr Yusgiantoro said there was "no problem" with the presence of the two marines at the exhibition. MFA said the posing of the two marines at the exhibition did not reflect the spirit of Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa's comments made on February 11 this year that no ill-will or malice was intended towards Singapore. - CNA/fa

Tragic training accident The number of casualties are simply mind-boggling... Likely a tube explosion which made it a massive exploding grenade spilling thousands of deadly shrapnels all over? From ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/mortar-rounds-sus...ory?id=18762644 Use of Some Mortar Rounds Suspended After Accident Kills Seven Marines By LUIS MARTINEZ (@LMartinezABC) and ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb) March 19, 2013 Seven Marines were killed and at least seven others were injured when a powerful 60mm mortar exploded in a tube during a training exercise in Nevada, the Marines said today. The Marines have issued a suspension on the use of all 60mm mortars and their associated tubes while they conduct a review of what caused a round to explode. The suspension will affect mortars used both in training and in deployed settings. The Marines, who were from the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., were conducting live fire maneuver training at the Hawthorne Army Depot 140 miles southeast of Reno, Nev., Sunday when Lukeman said it appeared a mortar round exploded in a tube at 9:55 p.m. MST. One sailor was among the injured in the blast, Brig. Gen. Jim Lukeman said today. A Defense official later told ABC News that the sailor was a Navy corpsman working with the unit. It was not clear where the Marines were standing or the cause of the blast, which Lukeman said is under investigation. The survivors are being treated at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno for injuries that include trauma fractures and vascular injuries, hospital spokeswoman Stacy Kendall told ABC News. Two Marines and one sailor are very seriously injured, while three Marines have serious injuries and a seventh Marine was treated for minor injuries, Lukeman said. The Marines had been training at the Hawthorne Army Depot and the nearby Mountain Warfare Training Center for the past month, Lukeman said. The training was not in anticipation of an imminent deployment, he said. The mountainous desert terrain of the 230-square-mile depot is used as a training location for special forces since it "provides a realistic simulation of the situation in Afghanistan," according to the depot's website. The depot is also used as a storage site for ammunition awaiting demilitarization. It takes several Marines to fire a 60mm mortar and they must "work together to provide constant and accurate high-angle suppressive fire," according to the Marines' website. The mortar the Marines were using is a "lightweight company mortar fired from a stationary position," Lukeman said. The Marine Corps is notifying families before releasing the identities of those who were killed. Lukeman said the names would be made public 24 hours after all the next of kin were notified. "Our first priority is to provide them the support they need during this very difficult time," he said. ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report

These d*mn Yankees keep scr*wing things up and such infuriating stunts will only further provoke the insurgents and other radicals even more, making this already turbulent world even more unstable. Ended up who suffer? Folks like you and me loh... Example: The stepping up of security checks everywhere making it more more costly for both travel/business and these costs filter down to us eventually. One of our very own, a sweet lady was even killed in India as a result of some suicidal radicals some time back. The Marines are previously well-known for their discipline and aggressiveness in battle but sadly since LHO shot JFK, their reputation seem to take a hit henceforth... From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp...1176484/1/.html US Marines urinate on dead insurgents Posted: 13 January 2012 0750 hrs WASHINGTON: A video purportedly showing US Marines urinating on dead insurgents in Afghanistan prompted American condemnation and a Pentagon probe Thursday, but the Taliban said peace efforts would continue. A senior US military official said the Marines believed they had identified the unit at the centre of the allegations, which evoked memories of previous abuses committed by US troops in Iraq and during the decade-long Afghan war. "We cannot release the name of the unit at this time since the incident is being investigated," a spokesman from the Marines said, referring to images that could spark outrage and unrest in Afghanistan and the wider Muslim world. US cable network CNN quoted an unnamed US Marine official as saying the military branch was "confident" the troops in the inflammatory video were from the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Regiment, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The unit deployed to Afghanistan, mainly in Helmand province, in early 2011 and returned in September or October, CNN reported. The video appeared to show four servicemen urinating on three bloodied corpses, and one of the men, apparently aware he was being filmed, saying: "Have a great day, buddy," referring to one of the dead. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta pledged that "those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent," and a Pentagon spokesman confirmed a probe into the alleged abuse was under way. "This conduct is entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military and does not reflect the standards or values our armed forces are sworn to uphold," Panetta said in a statement. "I have seen the footage, and I find the behaviour depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters of her "total dismay at the story concerning our Marines," and joined Panetta in condemning "the deplorable behaviour that is reflected in this video." "It is absolutely inconsistent with American values, with the standards of behaviour that we expect from our military personnel," Clinton said. The Taliban, who have made recent moves toward talks to end 10 years of US-led war in the impoverished country, described the apparent abuse as "an inhumane and savage act by the American soldiers in Afghanistan." But spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said he did not think it would destroy tentative peace negotiations with the United States, "which at this stage are mainly about prisoner exchange". Earlier in the day, the insurgents issued another statement supporting talks to end the war against US-led forces, while warning that this did not mean surrender. The Pentagon says it has not yet verified the footage, which has been broadcast by leading Afghan television station Tolo News and posted on the Live Leak website. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement that the government of Afghanistan was "deeply disturbed" at the desecration. "This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms," he said, requesting that the US urgently investigate and "apply the most severe punishment" to anyone found guilty. On the subject of peace talks, the Taliban, who have announced their readiness to open a political office in Qatar, said they had increased their "political efforts to come to mutual understanding with the world." "But this understanding does not mean a surrender from jihad and neither is it connected to an acceptance of the constitution of the stooge Kabul administration," the hardline Islamists said in a statement received by AFP. "But rather the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) is utilising its political wing alongside its military presence and jihad in order to realise the national and Islamic aspirations of the nation and its martyrs." The United States earlier announced that it would send a senior official to meet Karzai next week to see if he will agree to a resumption of preliminary talks with the Taliban. A US official said the talks could open within weeks. A key Washington demand for any progress in negotiations is that the Taliban accept the Afghan constitution, which mandates protection for the rights of women and minorities, which were stifled during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Another crucial element would be a renunciation of violence by the Taliban and a break with Al-Qaeda and other "terrorist" groups, the US says. - AFP/wk